


Tag, You're Mine!

by leanermina



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 19:02:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leanermina/pseuds/leanermina
Summary: The Colorado Avalanche go to Stratum in Arizona to play laser tag, and things get a little competitive.





	Tag, You're Mine!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beatrice17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beatrice17/gifts).



There was some kind of commotion going on at the front of the bus, just a few rows ahead.

 

Tyson poked his head around the seats to see what was happening.

 

Blocking the center of the aisle, right in full view of the front window, Mikko was standing atop the step beside the driver’s seat and yapping like a coyote; ‘Team bonding! Team bonding, everybody!’

 

Tyson shook his head. Mikko must have had too much coffee or something. As he watched, Nate bumped into the young Finn from behind, and Mikko turned, raising his hands as though ready to fight, a grin on his face. When he saw the raised eyebrows Nate was giving him, however, he obediently dropped into one of the seats at the front in silence.

 

As usual, Nate stopped besides Tyson and slung his jacket over and into the seat by the window. Tyson stood up to let his friend squeeze past.

 

He couldn’t help mock-whispering teasingly, ‘Yeah! Team bonding! Team bonding, Nate!’, and bouncing up and down in his seat once Nate had flopped into the vacant space with all the energy of a geriatric bulldog.

 

The look he received in return was an unamused one.

 

‘Just shut up and sit in your seat, idiot. Bad enough Mikko’s…’ Tyson didn’t catch the end of his muttering as Nate pulled the brim of his cap down further over his face and turned to face the window.

 

Tyson slouched back into his seat, grinning. Nate before 12pm was not always the most joyfully alert person. Probably should have had some of whatever the hell Mikko had been drinking.

 

Tyson put his earphones back in and waited for the rest of the guys to board. He could hear, over the sound of his music, more squabbling coming from up front. Since nobody had passed him in a while, he looked over curiously again. Kerfy, Josty and JT were squabbling over where to sit, playfully shoving each other as they appeared to be taking part in some kind of cramped game of musical chairs in the second row. He watched in amusement as Gabe stepped up behind them and cleared his throat. The rookies scattered to their seats.

 

Tyson kept his eyes trained on Gabe as he continued down the aisle. Even in the casual clothes he was wearing- ‘ _you can’t wear a suit in laser tag, Gabe, don’t forget_ ’ Tyson had reminded him the evening before- he looked perfect. As usual. He smiled at Tyson, eyes bright, as he moved past his row. Tyson threw him a small secret smile in response.

 

Following Gabe came Sven, looking as determined as though he was already on the battlefield. He waited silently for Kerfy to move so he could sit beside the window.

 

Up front Nail had dropped into the seat besides Mikko, and the two of them were chatting enthusiastically in broken English. Tyson’s smile grew. Yak was going to love this. He could picture the Russian rushing around and half-screaming, half-laughing as he fired at his opponents.

 

The last to board was Colin, the relatively new guy. He also gave Tyson a small smile as he seated himself across the aisle. Tyson had mentioned to him the previous evening that some of the guys were hiring a bus to go and play laser tag, and he had enthusiastically accepted the invitation of joining. Tyson remembered to quickly shoot a grin back at him before turning to face forwards.

 

Tyson heard the thrum of the engine and closed his eyes. He had no idea how long it would take to reach this place from Phoenix. But it had made sense, with the morning off after the game, to take the time to do a little exercise and enjoy themselves- or, as Mikko put it, doing ‘team bonding’- before the flight back to Denver in the evening, and so he had happily agreed to Gabe’s suggestion.

 

Of course, he probably would have agreed to just about anything that Gabe suggested. That soft, angelic face lit up in a devious smile had ways of doing things to Tyson. Gabe probably didn’t even realize when he asked Tyson if he wanted to come for dinner, if he wanted to get ice cream, if he wanted to play laser tag, that the answer would always be an emphatic _yes_.

 

‘Hey.’

 

Tyson jerked round, yanking his headphones out, only to find Gabe’s giant head grinning in between the seats at him. His arm was snaked back around behind the headrest, his hand dangling through the space between Tyson and Nate’s seats, just below his face.

 

‘Jesus _Christ_ Gabe, way to give me a heart attack!’

 

‘Sorry’, Gabe said, with a look that suggested he wasn’t sorry at all.

 

‘I swear thinking about you summons you, like the devil or something.’

 

‘Aww, you were thinking about me?’

 

‘No.’ Tyson was aware his face was getting heated and decided he should swiftly change the subject. ‘What did you want?’

 

Gabe waggled his eyebrows. ‘I just wanted to tell you you’re going down, Barrie.’

 

And damnit, that was doing nothing to stop Tyson blushing.

 

‘Er’, he scoffed, as nonchalantly as he could manage. ‘I don’t think so Gabriel. What’s our track record, again?’

 

‘We’ve only been to Stratum one time, and I beat you.’

 

‘I meant laser tag in general.’

 

‘Okay, but I was injured for two of those times we went.’

 

‘Gabe, getting kicked in the shin by a small child you were trying to push out the way does not count as an injury.’

 

‘Oh my _god_.’ Nate’s cap vanished and his frowning forehead appeared. ‘Can you two _stop_ , I’m trying to sleep.’

 

‘We can’t stop their flirting, you know that’, EJ answered solemnly. Tyson couldn’t see him but knew he was seated, as usual, besides their captain, in the window seat behind Nate’s.

 

‘Old married couple’, Colin laughed, and then froze slightly as Tyson looked at him from the side of his eyes. _I trusted you, new guy._

 

He could hear some of the rookies snickering at what Wilson had said, and tried to scoff, but he was sure the deep red tinge to his face was discrediting any kind of denial he could make.

 

‘We’d better make sure they’re on the same team’, Sven called from the front far corner. Tyson could just see his face peering over the headrests. ‘Otherwise they might pull a Romeo and Juliet. Run off together.’

 

Everyone laughed at that.

 

Only Josty was snorting; ‘Romeo and Juliet- more like Sleeping Beauty. Tys’ll get shot straight away. Gabe’ll have to, you know, give him a little kiss, wake him up.’ He caught Tyson’s eye and winked.

 

‘Gabe should be the asleep beauty!’, Mikko protested.

 

More laughter.

 

Tyson realized that arguing back now would be futile, especially since he was still blushing scarlet, and it was growing worse by the minute as the rookies began to debate which of him and Gabe would make a hotter princess.

 

He snuck a look at Gabe. The captain had an odd, contorted look on his face. Why wasn’t he saying anything to shut them up or play it off like normal? _Come on, Gabe_ , he thought impatiently.

 

Luckily EJ jumped in then.

 

‘Hey, at least they can _see_ the colors of the lasers we’re firing, Josty.’

 

The rookies descended once more into bickering amongst themselves.

 

‘ _Can_ you actually see the lasers?’, Tyson heard JT ask. He sounded genuinely curious.

 

‘Should have brought your glasses!’, Kerfy said cheerily, over Josty’s protests.

 

Tyson turned to Nate with his mouth open, ready to defend himself, only to see that Nate had put his earphones in and turned back to the window.

 

He frowned and turned to peer back at Gabe instead, only to find his face had vanished. The Swede was now sitting back in his chair, and as Tyson peered through the opening, he saw Gabe and EJ exchanging a look. A look that was almost… relieved?

 

Tyson stared for a moment, confused. Was Gabe really that grateful to EJ for shutting the rookies up? Why hadn’t he just said something himself? Sure, Tyson wasn’t so happy about the teasing himself, especially since for him it hit a little too close to home, but he had gotten used to taking it. His eyes briefly met Gabe’s, and he quickly looked away.

 

He shrugged to himself. It was probably nothing. Maybe Gabe was just feeling ill or something. He frowned. He’d have to keep an eye on that today.

 

Glancing round, he saw Nate was staring at him.

 

‘What?’

 

‘What are you frowning about?’

 

‘Oh, nothing.’ Tyson put his earphones in and closed his eyes once more.

 

*

 

He and Gabe had actually ended up on the same team for the first match. However, in spite of all of Sven’s teasing about not separating them, the second game they played found them facing off against each other.

 

Tyson was fiddling with the straps on his vest when he heard; ‘Good luck, Tys.’

 

He looked up to see Gabe standing a few feet away, on the periphery of his team, who were clustered together and waiting to be lead to another entrance. The light was pretty dim inside, various spotlights set into the walls around them, but even in this Tyson could see that Gabe was almost as flushed as he had been earlier. The first game- which saw Tyson, Gabe, Nate and EJ besieged in one of the towers by the rookies- had clearly left them all exhausted.

 

Instead of chirping him about maybe needing to hit the gym a little more, Tyson grinned weakly and replied; ‘Hey, thanks. You too.’

 

Gabe simply stood where he was, smiling in return, until EJ leaned back from the group and called him away.

 

Tyson stared, mouth dry. The way Gabe was looking at him was like- Well, Tyson wasn’t blind.

 

_What if…?_

He shook his head. Right now, all that mattered was winning this game.

 

*

 

His team was down by 3 points when Tyson decided he had better do something about it.

 

He had so far been playing with the _modus operandi_ of stealth, as opposed to Nate, who had run screaming at Mikko and gotten hit by Sven, hiding just around the corner; or Yak, whose laughter had unfortunately given him away while he and Tyson had crouched in an alcove together. Tyson had sprinted away, abandoning him as silently as possible while Yak threw his hands up in surrender to the approaching figure of JT.

 

For the past five minutes Tyson had been crouched among a series of small maze-like walls to one side of one of the larger corridors. Dim neon lights pulsated above his head on a continuous cycle. So far, he had seen no signs of anybody else, but he figured somebody would have to come by soon. Every 30 seconds or so there would be an echoing shout or the sound of a blaster firing somewhere in the distance. His t-shirt clung to his back, glued there by a thin film of sweat. Yet he didn’t move a muscle, only his eyes flitting across the area from his corner. Like a snake lying in wait.

 

It wasn’t long before his intended target slowly approached. He was moving quickly yet cautiously and sticking to one wall of the room. Tyson’s face stretched in a grin.

 

Breathing silently through his mouth, he darted out, across to the other side of path that Gabe had just walked along, and behind a thin pillar. Here he was vulnerable, exposed from behind, but he didn’t intend to wait here for too long.

 

Peering round the brightly colored column, he spotted Gabe frowning and looking round. The blaster he held at his hip swung wildly in different directions. Suddenly he paused, and Tyson held his breath.

 

A moment later Gabe’s eyebrows knitted together, and he turned back in the same direction he had originally been headed, moving forward swiftly.

 

Tyson leant further round the pillar to track Gabe with his gaze, and then narrowed in on a dark space fixed in the wall as Gabe passed by it. An alcove. A devious idea implanted itself in his brain.

 

He could just shoot Gabe.

 

He could.

 

Instead he quickly, occasionally glancing over his shoulder, walked up behind the Swede, gripped his shoulder with one hand, and yanked him back into the enclosed space.

 

Gabe gave a strangled, startled yelp, and his mouth formed into a silent, surprised ‘o’ when he saw that his mysterious abductor was Tyson.

 

Tyson merely stared back at him, breathing hard.

 

‘Tys- what the hell are you-?’ He fell silent again as Tyson put a finger to his lips with the hand still holding his gun. It obscured half his face and he quickly dropped it back down to his hip. His other hand was still on Gabe’s shoulder and he let it fall to the blond’s chest, pushing him back against the wall so that he could lean around and peer out.

 

The coast was clear.

 

He leaned back into the alcove, preparing to say something, only to see Gabe’s eyes trained on his. They looked more than wary; they looked nervous. As Tyson watched, they darted down to his hand, still on Gabe’s chest, and then back up.

 

Tyson swallowed hard.

 

‘Gabe, I-’

 

He stopped and swallowed again, nervous suddenly, forgetting why he had pulled Gabe in here in the first place. He let his hand fall to his side.

 

Looking back into Gabe’s still-nervous, questioning face, he took a deep breath.

 

Better to just come out with it.

 

‘Gabe, I’ve been kind of into you like… forever. Are you into me?’ He held his breath but found that he only needed to do so for a split second, for as soon as he’d let the question escape his lips Gabe’s face lit up in a huge grin. His teeth shone under the refracted glow from the purple lights outside the alcove.

 

‘Hell yeah I am’, he laughed, then paused, the grin turning to an oddly shy smile all of a sudden. ‘It’s also been forever, I mean.’

 

Tyson grinned back, before looking down and tilting his head up in what he hoped was a seductive manner. He could tell from the look on Gabe’s face that the angle worked. ‘You know… It’s dark, probably no one’s gonna find us here, so…’

 

The mischievous grin returned, and Tyson shut his eyes and kissed his captain.

 

Gabe kissed back like he was dying. He shifted so much of his weight forward almost on top of Tyson that he staggered back slightly, needing to find his footing. Gabe’s mouth chased him the whole way. Once he found his balance he kissed back just as forcefully.

 

‘Tyson, I wanted-’, Gabe whispered, but Tyson cut him off with another kiss and he groaned.

 

It was a little awkward trying to maneuver their hands around each other while holding onto the blasters and there was some kind of cheesy music playing in the background, but all Tyson could concentrate on was the warmth of Gabe’s lips against his and the pounding ache in his stomach as they moved _closer_ , _warmer_ , _tighter_.

 

Slowly Tyson remembered what he had initially set out to do. An image of the scoreboard flashed through his mind.

 

Softly, he put one hand to Gabe’s face and pulled away slightly.

 

‘Gabe?’

 

Gabe opened his eyes and grinned, awestruck. His hair was slightly ruffled and sticking up, but if anyone could pull off that look, Tyson knew it was Gabe. The evidence was right in front of him. He licked his lips, marveling at how puffy they felt.

 

‘Yeah?’, Gabe asked, half-distractedly, eyes not entirely focused as they looked at Tyson’s mouth.

 

Tyson smiled sweetly at him, raised his blaster, and shot the Swede in the chest with it.

 

His smile turned into an open grin, and Gabe looked so shocked and betrayed as the noise went off that he couldn’t help laughing.

 

He sprinted off, back out to the neon refuge of his original hiding place, before Gabe had the time to recover and exact revenge. As he did so he covered his mouth to hide the laughter. _Oh man,_ _Gabe’s face_.

 

Only from his vantage spot he watched as Gabe emerged from the alcove, looked around, and then shook his head and slouched off in the opposite direction. From the slope of his shoulders, he didn’t look happy. Tyson shook his head at himself. He would have to make it up to him later.

 

_Later._

 

He smiled to himself again, gripped his blaster, and raced off in the opposite direction to hunt for someone to shoot at.

 

*

 

When the game was over and the dust had settled, Tyson found himself sweaty yet victorious back in their starting room where they had received all of their gear. Members of both teams, now sorted into new ones, stood about talking, getting ready in anticipation of their final game.

 

‘Way to go, Tyson!’, Nail yelled enthusiastically, raising one hand over his head.

 

Tyson high-fived him as he moved past. Their team had stolen the win in a narrow victory, thanks in no small part to his last-minute heroics, capturing JT, Colin and Sven and blasting them all with just a few seconds to spare.

 

He passed JT now, who was going to be on his team for the next round. He was saying to Josty; ‘I’ll get you for that.’

 

Tyson turned to ask Josty what JT was going to get him for, only to see EJ talking to Nate and Matt Nieto. Gabe stood beside them, not really paying attention to the conversation, merely fiddling with his gun. He looked crestfallen. His solitary figure brought back Tyson’s earlier worries, and the defenseman felt his heart clench in his chest.

 

He strolled over to stand besides Gabe.

 

‘Hey.’

 

The blond started and looked up at him. ‘Oh. Hey.’ There was a short pause. ‘Congrats on the win.’

 

‘Thanks. I like to think I played some part in it, but it was a team effort really.’ Tyson smirked. ‘Team bonding, huh?’

 

Gabe just looked back down. ‘Yeah. Aim of the game.’

 

Tyson felt suddenly guilty. ‘Gabe, what’s-’

 

‘Hey, Nate’, Gabe said, turning to the group beside them, ‘You’re on my team next, right? Give me a hand with this?’

 

Frowning, Tyson took the hint and moved away. He gave EJ a questioning look and received a bewildered one in return.

 

He tried to approach Gabe once more, just before the final game started.

 

‘Hey, what’s up with-’

 

Mikko yelped as Gabe strapped his vest too tight.

 

‘Ow!’

 

‘Sorry, hold on!’

 

Sven and EJ, standing nearby, snickered.

 

Tyson watched as Gabe helped Mikko with the straps of the vest and sighed. He wasn’t going to have the chance to ask Gabe what was going on in private. Not here, anyway.

 

The woman running the games called for Group A to follow her around to the other entrance to the arena.

                      

With one last look back at Gabe, Tyson went.

 

*

 

Within a few minutes of the start of the game, minutes spent hiding under a bridge and waiting for someone to approach, Tyson’s guilt and anxiety gnawed away at him to the extent that he abandoned his hiding place and went searching for Gabe.

 

He ignored the beeping, pinging sounds of the blasters that hit his vest as he moved.

 

‘Hey, Tyson, what are you doing?’, Sven called, holding his weapon aloft.

 

Tyson ignored him.

 

‘Tyson?’

 

He moved on to the next corridor, which was deserted. All of his former stealth had been forgotten out of worry, and he marched along, swinging his head about distractedly. Right now, probably anyone could sneak up on him and pull the same trick that he had tried on Gabe.

 

And someone did.

 

Tyson found himself shoved to one side and pushed against the back wall of an alcove.

 

He blinked, and Gabe was standing in front of him, his eyes searching.

 

Tyson opened his mouth to apologize, but Gabe put his hand over it. Tyson quickly shut his lips and tried not to drool on his captain’s palm in the process, shuffling awkwardly in the small space.

 

‘Did you mean it?’

 

And Tyson stopped.

 

He looked at Gabe, really looked at him. How wide his eyes were. The way he tried to set his jaw defiantly, although his lips were trembling. How vulnerable he seemed.

 

_This was what Gabe was worried about?_

 

Tyson nodded furiously, Gabe’s hand moving with his mouth.

 

Gabe smiled again, the same relieved expression from earlier lighting his features, and he removed his hand, replacing it with his lips before Tyson could get any words out.

 

Tyson melted into the kiss happily, closing his eyes and tilting his head slightly. They were getting better at this each time, if that were possible.

 

He wrapped both arms about Gabe’s neck, running the hand not holding his gun through Gabe’s hair, and sighed.

 

Only to pull back with an exasperated groan as he felt something pressed to his chest and heard the sound of a blaster going off and hitting its target.

 

Gabe had already disentangled himself. He ran off into the open, laughing maniacally.

 

Tyson stood stock still for a moment, before shaking his head, raising his gun in both hands, and racing after him.

 

*

 

They spent the next five minutes following each other around trying to shoot each other before ultimately giving up, chasing each other into secluded alcoves and kissing. Tyson couldn’t get over how happy he felt.

 

‘How long?’ Gabe was giggling.

 

Tyson drew back and blinked at him, squinting slightly in the darkness. Footsteps sounded far away.

 

‘How long what?’

 

Gabe pressed another kiss to the corner of his mouth. ‘How long have you liked me?’

 

Tyson scoffed. ‘I’m not feeding your ego. Your head is big enough as it is.’

 

‘So a long time?’

 

At his hopeful grin and raised eyebrows, Tyson couldn’t help smiling and answering honestly; ‘Yeah. A long time.’

 

‘Me too.’

 

‘Yeah?’

 

‘Yeah.’

 

Gabe leant in to kiss him again.

 

‘Hey, Tyso- Oh, _shit!_ ’

 

Tyson jumped, his blaster going off, and Gabe whipped around. Josty was standing open-mouthed at the opening to the alcove, staring as the two stood with their arms still around each other.

 

‘Oh my god! See, I was right!’, he crowed excitedly. Kerfy’s head also appeared from outside. He made a face and turned away again, only to be replaced by Mikko, who whooped.

 

‘See? I told you Gabe should kiss him!’, Josty was yelling.

 

There was the sound a blaster and Josty turned on his heels. ‘JT, what? We’re on the same team!’

 

There was no response but laughter as several more rounds were shot at Josty’s chest, and the young player turned and raced away to hide. Mikko gave one more whoop and also vanished.

 

Gabe turned back to Tyson, eyebrows raised. ‘Well.’

 

‘Well’, Tyson said.

 

Over Gabe’s shoulder he saw EJ looking into the alcove with a slight smile on his face. Tyson resolved to ask Gabe, out of curiosity, how long EJ had known. Later, though, because now EJ was raising one finger to his lips with a sly grin and aiming his gun, and so Tyson merely stroked Gabe’s cheek again and stared into his eyes.

 

When the blaster sounded and Gabe jumped, swearing loudly as he turned to find the culprit, Tyson doubled over in laughter.

 

*

 

They got ice cream to cool down after their game, most of the group too tired to even talk, before heading back towards the bus. Too tired to talk to Tyson, that is. He could hear various whispers throughout the rest of the group and he was pretty sure that the main topic of discussion was himself and Gabe.

 

Not that he really minded. Not when Gabe was sitting next to him, smiling and squeezing his hand whenever Tyson caught his eye.

 

He waited outside with Gabe while everyone else boarded the bus, counting them off as they got on.

 

Nate, one of the last to board, slowed to a stop besides Tyson. He was smirking.

 

‘Enjoy the loss?’

 

‘You look more cheerful than earlier’, Tyson said, ignoring the comment about their final game.

 

‘I mean, I’m just happy now I don’t have to hear you pining about Gabe anymore.’

 

Tyson went red. ‘I didn’t- I don’t _pine_ about- for you.’

 

Gabe just laughed, and they followed Nate onto the bus.

 

When his best friend dropped into the seat next to Colin, Tyson sent him an appreciative smile. Nate merely raised his eyebrows with a tiny smirk in return. Tyson supposed that made up for the pining comment. Almost. He might still have to buy a dinner or two before Tyson would fully let it go.

 

Tyson dropped into the seat on the other side of the aisle, and Gabe crowded in next to him. Tyson felt his face heat up slightly and cursed how easily he went red all the time.

 

‘How’s it going, Romeo and Juliet?’, Josty asked from the seat in front, and snickered. He probably thought that he was being smart. One dark beady eye was peeping over the top of the headrests, and Tyson resisted the urge to poke it. He needed that eye for hockey.

 

Thankfully, JT’s hand also appeared above the headrest, gripping Tyson’s head and yanking it back down.

 

Tyson smirked as he heard Josty’s muffled protests.

 

He turned to find Gabe looking at him with an evil grin.

 

‘What?’

 

‘I’m your Romeo.’

 

Tyson spluttered. ‘No way, dude, I’m Romeo. _You’re_ Juliet.’

 

‘ _No_.’

 

‘ _Yes_.’

 

‘ _You_ should be Juliet. Because you’re so pretty.’

 

Tyson spluttered some more. ‘I am totally not prettier than you! Come on, you’d have to be Juliet!’

 

Gabe smiled at him, a softer smile than the previous amused look. ‘You are pretty, shut up.’ And with that, he took hold of Tyson’s hand down in between the seats.

 

Tyson blushed fiercely and opened his mouth to argue, then closed it, leaning into Gabe’s side and shutting his eyes.

 

After all, if they were going to do this, it was only fair that he let Gabe think he had won the arguments some of the time.


End file.
